Visit from 2007 winners comes ahead of facing Barcelona in the club’s first Champions League final in 18 years
Arsenal head coach Renee Slegers ahead of the Women's Champions League finalopen image in gallery
Arsenal head coach Renee Slegers ahead of the Women's Champions League final (REUTERS)
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Arsenal will need “courage” if they are to beat holders Barcelona in the Women’s Champions League final but head coach Renee Slegers believes their rollercoaster journey to Lisbon shows they have the resilience required to pull off the upset.
On Saturday evening Arsenal will play in their first Champions League final since winning the Uefa Women’s Cup in 2007 - where they become the first, and so far only, English team to become European champions.
They will face a strong Barcelona side who are appearing in their fifth final in a row and will be aiming to win a hat-trick of titles in a row after demolishing English champions Chelsea in the semi-finals.
“We want to show courage tomorrow,” Slegers said. “We respect Barcelona as a team, they are very good football team. We are humble, but at the same time we are here to win.
“We have to find ways to win, but I am confident the game will shift in momentum. For us, it’s important we deal with all moments really well.
“We need courage, we need discipline, we need to be switched on, we need to make the right decisions. We believe in our capacity to perform tomorrow.”
Arsenal’s journey to Lisbon started in the qualifying rounds and they have become the first team to reach the final after overturning a first-leg defeat in three rounds of the tournament.
The Gunners came from behind to beat eight-time winners Lyon in the semi-finals also overturned first-leg defeats to progress past Real Madrid in the quarters and Hacken in the second round of qualifying back in September.
“The connection and belief we have in each other, that we know when we are not at our top level that we can get there and pull ourselves into that, I think that’s the mark of any great team,” said Arsenal’s captain Kim Little.
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Captain Kim Little first joined Arsenal in 2008open image in gallery
Captain Kim Little first joined Arsenal in 2008 (REUTERS)
“You can’t play at the top of your game every second but what makes us a great team is those moments where we haven’t been, we can take ourselves out of those moments quite quickly, within games as well. That’s a really good trait to have and we have shown that on many occasions.”
Arsenal’s squad were this week visited by some of the members of the 2007 team that won the Uefa Women’s Cup and Alessia Russo said the club was back where they belong after reaching their first Champions League final for 18 years.
“I think any player who plays for Arsenal understands that it’s a winning club,” Russo said. “It’s a club that wants to be ambitious and competing with the best. I feel like this is where we want to be.
“We’ll keep pushing as a group, and we’re very away of what came before us as well. Kim has played for the club for so long and she deserves to be here.
“We also had lunch with some of the 2007 winners, to understand how much it means to them. How much they still feel part of the club is special for the current players.”